Table 5.
Associationsa and interactionsb between multimorbidity and musculoskeletal-related healthcare or medicines use among working-age adults with specific musculoskeletal conditions
| Sample (n = 4555) |
Visit arthritis or osteoporosis specialist (n = 103) OR (95%CI) |
Interaction p-valueb | Visit GP for arthritis or osteoporosis (n = 206) OR (95%CI) |
Interaction p-value | Pain medicines use (n = 238) OR (95%CI) |
Interaction p-value | MSK medicines use (n = 1179) OR (95%CI) |
Interaction p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any MSK (4555) | 1.4 (0.7, 2.8) | - | 1.4 (1.0, 2.2) | - | 3.2 (2.1, 5.1) | - | 1.3 (1.1, 1.7) | - |
| Osteoarthritis (993) | 1.7 (0.5, 5.6) | 0.68 | 2.1 (1.0, 4.1) | 0.30 | 3.5 (1.7, 7.5) | 0.91 | 1.3 (1.0, 1.9) | 0.98 |
| Inflammatory arthritis (317) | 0.8 (0.1, 4.9) | 0.59 | 0.7 (0.1, 6.1) | 0.43 | 2.9 (0.7, 12.2) | 0.51 | 0.8 (0.3, 1.9) | 0.08 |
| Other arthritis (1022) | 1.3 (0.5, 3.2) | 0.79 | 2.3 (0.9, 6.1) | 0.21 | 2.1 (1.2, 3.8) | <0.05 | 1.0 (0.7, 1.6) | 0.11 |
| Gout (589) | NE | NE | 20.8 (2.8, 157.9) | 0.84 | 10.0 (1.4, 71.8) | 0.40 | 2.4 (1.2, 5.1) | <0.05 |
| Back pain (2493) | 3.0 (0.7 13.9) | 0.23 | 2.6 (1.0, 7.2) | 0.14 | 3.9 (2.0, 7.8) | 0.40 | 1.7 (1.2, 2.3) | 0.06 |
| Soft tissue disorder (404) | 1.4 (0.0, 164.0) | 0.93 | 2.6 (0.7, 10.2) | 0.34 | 4.0 (1.0, 16.0) | 0.96 | 2.2 (1.2, 4.0) | 0.17 |
| Osteoporosis (292) | 1.0 (0.4 2.4) | 0.92 | 1.0 (0.4, 2.1) | 0.94 | 3.4 (0.9, 13.8) | 0.68 | 1.6 (0.8, 3.4). | 0.91 |
legend: aEach row header indicates the specific MSK in which the strata-specific association between multimorbidity and each burden measure has been estimated. For each row, the reference group is those with the specific MSK but not multimorbidity. Associations (odds ratios) are adjusted for age, gender, SES, education, smoking and medium to high risk alcohol consumption. All musculoskeletal-related healthcare and medicines use measures relate to the 2 weeks prior to the interview. NE: not estimable due to small cell counts. bEach interaction p-value indicates whether the association between multimorbidity and the health measure differs between the specific MSK group and the remaining MSK population. Significant (p < 0.05) interactions are bolded and further details are presented textually in results section. GP: general practitioner